{"id":25140,"date":"2012-01-06T15:47:37","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T22:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=25140"},"modified":"2014-11-07T13:04:17","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T20:04:17","slug":"are-comic-books-too-liberal-for-their-own-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/06\/are-comic-books-too-liberal-for-their-own-good.html","title":{"rendered":"Are comic books too liberal for their own good?"},"content":{"rendered":"

That’s the assertion of Darin Wagner in his Bleeding Cool News<\/em> essay “How Liberalism May Be Hurting Comic Book Sales<\/a>“. In it, he purports to note how comic books have gotten so incredibly liberal in some of their stated views that it’s hurting the stories and the sales of comics.<\/p>\n

Hmmmm.<\/p>\n

Okay, I’ll give Wagner some level of credit here. There is, net-net, a “liberal” bias on the part of most comic book writers. There are some writers who are distinctly not, and there are some areas where comics are distinctly not liberal, and a lot of the cases that Wagner gives are … \u00a0not well-chosen (we’ll get to this last point below).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Marvel's "Civil War" - Freedom vs Authority. Which a lot of people map to Liberal vs Conservative (or vice-versa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I will also concede that when writing is too polemical and too one-sided, it doesn’t work well. \u00a0One case I would pull out (and actually criticized<\/a> the responsible parties for) was Marvel’s “Civil War” saga, which ostensibly dealt with the dangers of Authoritarian Security (Iron Man leading the effort for metahuman registration and control after irresponsible super-heroes led to the destruction of most of a town) vs Freedom \u00a0(Captain America leading the resistance against said registration). \u00a0While there was some discussion of pros and cons for both positions, Mark Millar, the primary writer of the saga, very clearly tilted things toward the latter, less through studied and careful exploration of the issues than from Iron Man’s side Acting Badly.<\/p>\n

Now what’s amusing here is that how this was perceived at the time depended on where one stood politically. In the depth of Dubya’s administration, a lot of people associated Iron Man’s Authoritarianism with conservatives \/ Republicans (esp. given Tony as a rich business mogul), and Cap as a liberal fighting for personal freedom against the regime. \u00a0Of course, a lot of folks could argue the other course — Cap being more of a “Tea Party” individual vs. the forces of Big Government. \u00a0\u00a0Which just goes to show … something.<\/p>\n

At any rate, with those admissions, let’s look at Wagner’s tale.<\/p>\n

If you are a conservative like me, you\u2019ve been reading fewer and fewer comic books over the last 12 years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Comic book circulation has taken a nose-dive over the past decades. I don’t think anyone’s ever suggested an ideological reason for it. Usually it has to do with (a) high costs vs other entertainments and (b) lots of other entertainments.<\/p>\n

For those of you who know what I\u2019m talking about, the weekly visit to the comic book shop has become either an exercise in irritation or a monotonous drill.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You pick up a superhero comic book featuring a childhood favorite of yours, hoping to reignite some of that magic you felt way back when …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have bad news: the stuff you liked when you were a kid? A lot of it is very disappointing to read today.<\/p>\n

Is Wagner suggesting a return to the narrative sophistication of the 50s-60s?<\/p>\n

… and you see that the opening sequence in the comic deals with an oil rig disaster. You immediately and disappointingly know what\u2019s going to be said, either by your childhood favorite or by some other character given credibility within the story. You turn the page, and sure enough, your childhood favorite grumbles about his\/her country\u2019s dependency on oil …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is Wagner suggesting that the nation is not dependent on oil?<\/p>\n

… or how inherently dangerous oil drilling is to the environment and how it\u2019s not worth it …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think most folks would be willing to agree that oil drilling is dangerous to the environment. \u00a0The debate, for most folks who are not spokescritters for oil companies, is whether it’s worth it or not.<\/p>\n

… or simply mutters to him-or-herself briefly about the evils of corporate America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I agree: corporate America has had a bad name in comics since … um … well as far back as I can think of. \u00a0Heck, Superman in the early 30s days of his existence was as likely to be punching out profiteering \/ labor-bashing corporate chiefs as bank robbers.<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting at this juncture that Marvel (a Disney company) and DC (a Warner Bros. company) are hardly Mom&Pop or Budding Anarcho-Communist entities. \u00a0They are part of the heart of corporate America. \u00a0That they let that sort of thing get out indicates that it’s a \u00a0sentiment that resonates with the large majority of the readership.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
What could possibly upset Aquaman about this? Damned liberal!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s when you put the comic back on the shelf and your local retailer loses a sale. (Sound familiar? Brightest Day<\/em> #5 contained a similar scenario featuring Aquaman.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, imagine, the King of the Seven Seas might be a bit touchy about oil rigs. Go figure.<\/p>\n

You pick up another comic book featuring a superhero team you used to really enjoy …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I used to really enjoy a lot of stupid things.<\/p>\n

… and there\u2019s a member on the team who shares a lot of the same socio-political views you do, but he doesn\u2019t articulate them very well (by design, you can tell) and gets everything wrong (again, by design) and you realize that he\u2019s the \u201cteam jackass\u201d precisely because he is supposed to represent you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wagner does have something of a point here. There are not a lot of obviously “conservative” socio-political types in comics, and when you can point to one they often are, yes, team jackasses. One example is raised below; another is the Guy Gardner Green Lantern. \u00a0And on the Marvel side we have John Walker, the uber-conservative Captain America replacement.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, while most super-heroes are “law and order” focused (busting street crime is always something they make time for, as well as defeating invading alien hordes), they often challenge the status quo \u00a0and those in power for the injustices they do as well. \u00a0Does that make them “conservative” or “liberal”?<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Hawk is kind of a jerk. Actually, more than kind of.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(Another Brightest Day<\/em> example of this; issue #7 where Steve Ditko creation Hawk says he wrecked a restaurant\u2019s juke box because it was playing a Dixie Chicks song. Hawk was created to represent conservatism during the Vietnam War era, but today he\u2019s apparently a reckless caveman who doesn\u2019t understand the very conservative idea of private property rights.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Okay, Wagner, you have two points here. (1) Geoff Johns (the guy behind Brightest<\/em> Day<\/em>) is never going to be a conservative poster boy, and (b) Hawk is an asinine character that I soundly hate no matter what my politics or what title he’s appearing in — not for his politics, but for his Neanderthal portrayal.<\/p>\n

So you put that comic book back on the shelf and if you haven\u2019t walked out by now, you\u2019re sure to get at least three more experiences like these before finding a superhero comic that is, at best, not very political.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By the way, to be fair, I hope you’re not just reading these comics in the comic book store. Because you should really buy them first, then read them at home.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Wait ... auto safety isn't a conservative value?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We see this all the time, don\u2019t we? Black Canary just happens to make a comment about how supposedly unsafe SUVs are while pursuing a villain in one in the pages of Birds Of Prey.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Um … the dangers of SUVs (both roll-over dangers for some and the dangers to other vehicles they impact) is pretty cut and dried. \u00a0Whether there are mitigating reasons one might buy an SUV is another matter, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous.<\/p>\n

Over on the Marvel side, in the pages of Alpha Flight, a Canadian man parks in front of a fire hydrant while attempting to vote and he\u2019s given a ticket for doing so. The man accuses the cop (Snowbird\u2019s alter ego) of voter suppression and how she\u2019s \u201charassing the patriots who are trying to change things\u201d\u2026 to which she responds \u201cPlease, sir. We\u2019re Canadian.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ha! Those zany Canadians.<\/p>\n

Um … how is that a conservative-vs-liberal thing?<\/p>\n

It even extends outside of comics into animation. In the Justice League animated series episode \u201cParadise Lost,\u201d Superman and Wonder Woman are investigating a shopping mall. Wonder Woman looks at the interior of the mall and likens it to a temple. Superman replies \u201cYes, for those who worship their credit cards.\u201d Now, what are we supposed to make of this? Superman clearly doesn\u2019t think very highly of shopping malls, at the very least. (This is odd considering that the character once symbolized something called \u201cthe American Way\u201d of life, which was defined by, among other things, capitalism.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Really? This is Superman's "American Way"?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interesting. \u00a0Because, on the one hand, I don’t ever recall Superman ever saying, “Hey, vapid consumerism — it’s the American Way!” \u00a0And, on another hand, I know a lot of conservatives who condemn over-use of credit cards and a consumerist society (esp. around the holidays).<\/p>\n

But back to comic books. Sure these little jabs and nods are individually nothing that can\u2019t be dismissed\u2026 but they have a cumulative effect. They wear us down and eventually the excitement and magic of comic book superheroes becomes outweighed by our being annoyed. It\u2019s happening more and more over the last dozen years: The people behind the scenes allowing their personal politics to bleed through into the stories of otherwise apolitical superheroes whose adventures are meant for everyone to enjoy. This in-and-of-itself wouldn\u2019t be quite so bad if it weren\u2019t always the same political views repeated over-and-over ad nauseum.<\/p>\n

Simply put, there\u2019s too much liberalism in comic books today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Yeah, that's pretty liberal. But it's also not something you see every week in comics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Is there really more liberalism today — or over “the last dozen years”? \u00a0Really? \u00a0 Because I’d say that wall was broken in the early 70s — Denny O’Neil’s Green Lantern \/ Green Arrow run was the most obvious early examplar of this, but since that day, the idea of “apolitical superheroes” has, rightfully, been difficult to find. \u00a0Pollution, racial equality — those have been easy causes to find for four decades. \u00a0That these causes have been supplanted by more recent ones should be little surprise (though Wagner still seems to be unhappy about pollution being considered a bad thing).<\/p>\n

And that’s, overall, a good thing. \u00a0You can only beat up on so many mobster bank robbers and motive-less alien invaders and megalomaniacal world conquerers, for so long. \u00a0Sooner or later there’s going to be wrong-doers that someone is going to disagree whether they’re actually wrong.<\/p>\n

Or, sooner or later, someone’s going to ask, “Well, should we respect authority all the time? Are the police always right? Is the status quo the best we can be?” \u00a0I’d argue that the “apolitical” comics of the 50s and 60s — they were, in fact, conservative, because they took the existing situation, the authorities, law and order, and accepted them as automatically good.<\/p>\n

Now, is it fair or positive if all the superheroes consider the same evils as evil? \u00a0No — and probably not interesting, either. \u00a0Comics balance this in three ways:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
    \"\"<\/a>
    The Punisher serves to as a moral counterpoint to most heroes -- possibly a conservative one (for some values of conservative)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Proxy conflicts over methods (is it okay to kill someone? and, if so, when?)<\/li>\n

  2. Broader proxy conflicts over when it’s okay to bend the law, let certain criminals go, prioritize certain causes to fight for (e.g., mutant rights)<\/li>\n
  3. Discussions of the rightful use of power — Should Superman save the world from hunger? Should the Teen Titans intervene in what might be a case of spousal abuse? Conundrums facing police officers are often used in here.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Would it be better literature if some super-heroes thought the Occupy movement were a bunch of commie thugs and deserved to be pepper-sprayed (or boxing-glove-arrowed)? \u00a0Perhaps. \u00a0On the other hand would that win (or retain) more readers than it would lose?<\/div>\n

    One thing that those who disagree (most of whom are typically self-described liberals) will say is that there is conservatism in comic books because superheroes are inherently conservative. In saying this, they are implying that they are in fact balancing the scales by having these characters occasionally-to-frequently quip liberal adages. I have to disagree with that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Actually, I’d disagree with it, too.<\/p>\n

    The first comic book superhero, Superman, fought a liberal\/social agenda in his first stories. The character only became a symbol of lawful authority later.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Correct.<\/p>\n

    Most superheroes, it can be argued, are apolitical by virtue of the reader\u2019s ability to insert their own politics into the character when the writer has not already done so.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    But one person’s “basic, \u00a0fundamental, obvious moral code” and “apolitical” motivation is another person’s biased, prejudicial, partisan hackery. \u00a0I mean, aside from the virtue of saving a cat up in a tree, or stopping a group of masked bandits from robbing a store, or keeping Doctor Doom from turning everyone into mind slaves, it’s hard not to get into nuance. \u00a0Stopping a war? \u00a0Well, only if it’s established for all \u00a0<\/em>readers as an obviously<\/em> evil war fought in order to kick puppies; other wars usually have people arguing that the war is, in fact, the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

    Can we have more discussions about moral and political conflicts between characters? \u00a0Sure, we probably should<\/p>\n

    Even Green Arrow could be a conservative character, rather than the liberal one we\u2019ve had since Hard Traveling Heroes.<\/p>\n

    Now, you might say, \u201cDarin, you\u2019re obviously unaware that Green Arrow is based on Robin Hood and as EVERYBODY ELSE KNOWS, Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He\u2019d be an Occupier today.\u201d Well, yeah, that\u2019s how those on the left view Robin Hood\u2026 but if you look more closely at Robin Hood you will find that the character more accurately stole from the state and gave back to the people\u2026 so one could just as easily say that Robin Hood would be a Tea Partier today and, therefore, Green Arrow could be too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    Perhaps "Agents of Atlas Shrugged" would be more truly conservative.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    That would certainly be a new take on the character. Of course, I could see that character as being popular with economic conservatives (“robbing from Big Government”) and unpopular with social conservatives (“breaking the law”).<\/p>\n

    Of course, this raises another issue — that the question of \u00a0“conservative” vs “liberal” is a simple, single axis (if not a binary decision). \u00a0Consider the Political Compass<\/a>, which had both economic (collectivist vs. free market) and political (authoritarian vs. libertarian). \u00a0There are many types of conservatives. And many types of liberals.<\/p>\n

    Folks, I know comics are created by artists. I know that Marvel and DC offices are in New York City.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Right. New Yorkers are all liberal. \u00a0So are all artists. Got it.<\/p>\n

    I realized before I started typing this that asking for authentic conservatism …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    So what we need are more ... Bachmann supporters in the Avengers?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Which, as anyone following the current election season is like saying “authentic Americanism” or “authentic Christianity” — something subject to a dozen different interpretations. \u00a0Indeed, the same can be said about “liberalism.”<\/p>\n

    … in comic books from the Big Two to counter constant jabs, references and snide, preachy copy they print is like asking the mob to please leave garbage alone. I get that\u2026<\/p>\n

    \u2026but for the good of the comic book industry, this escalation and domination of liberal sentiment has got to stop and it\u2019s gotta stop quick.<\/p>\n

    Everybody knows that when an entertainer goes political, he\/she runs the very serious risk of cutting their audience by at least half. The comic book audience has been getting smaller and smaller and I think it\u2019s time to honestly consider that a big part of the problem is the content.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    I really think Wagner’s off-base here. \u00a0I seriously don’t think that “going political” is why comics have diminished in popularity. \u00a0There are a dozen much more significant factors.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s gotten so bad that some of the more open-minded liberal comic book readers I know are getting turned off because it\u2019s so obvious what\u2019s been happening.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    I’ve been turned off of any number of titles — but political liberalism has never been the reason.<\/p>\n

    I know that some of you are going to reply with some variation of \u201cI don\u2019t see it\u201d or \u201cThis guy is a troll\u201d or \u201cShut up.\u201dThat\u2019s fine, go ahead and exercise that right\u2026 but it won\u2019t help the comic book industry or make the audience grow again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Wait, if “I don’t see it,” I’m not helping the comic industry grow again? \u00a0Is the same true if someone says the comic book industry is in trouble because its stories are too conservative, and Wagner “doesn’t see it,” does that mean that’s true, too?<\/p>\n

    And so here’s a counter-example. \u00a0Consider a core “liberal” cause: feminism<\/em>. \u00a0Sure, women in comics are no longer a complete rarity, relegated to cooking and making coffee for their male counterparts. Someone suggesting that the Black Widow’s place is in the kitchen, or Wonder Woman should be finding a man to make her happy and settle down — though some<\/em> conservatives might agree with that — would not get very far.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    See the liberal feminist bias in comics!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    But women are still a significant minority amongst the super-hero world. \u00a0They are still presented (in physique and costuming) in a far more sexualized manner than their male counterparts. \u00a0They are, from a story perspective, far too often marginalized, far too often done away with or abused in some gruesome fashion (vs. males), far too often mistreated, retconned away, treated as sex objects, etc.<\/p>\n

    If comics were being overly-liberalized, I’d expect that would not be the case. Unless the liberal comic creators in their liberal comic book companies in their liberal media conglomerates are, in fact, bad<\/em> liberals. And, honestly, I’ve heard of far more people reducing their comics consumption over that than over a lack of fair presentation of conservative ideology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    That’s the assertion of Darin Wagner in his Bleeding Cool News essay “How Liberalism May Be Hurting Comic Book Sales“. In it, he purports to note how comic books have gotten so incredibly liberal in some of their stated views that it’s hurting the stories and the sales of comics. Hmmmm. Okay, I’ll give Wagner … Continue reading “Are comic books too liberal for their own good?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,263,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-comics","category-disney","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/dc-hawk-and-dove.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27567,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/25\/comic-book-writers-vs-artists-yet-again.html","url_meta":{"origin":25140,"position":0},"title":"Comic Book Writers vs Artists (yet again)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 25-Apr-12 1:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The suggestion that artists have nothing to do with the creative success of comic books, that it's all about the writer, is as insane ill-founded as the Image-era suggestion that comics are all about the artists and who needs writers anyway?There are comics I've read where I read them despite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8202,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/04\/27\/coverage_3.html","url_meta":{"origin":25140,"position":1},"title":"Coverage","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 27-Apr-05 10:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know that I agree that these are the 25 All-Time Greatest Covers of American Comic Books -- in fact, I distinctly disagree with some of the selections. That...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131514,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/13\/digital-vs-paper-comics.html","url_meta":{"origin":25140,"position":2},"title":"Digital vs Paper Comics","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Sep-16 12:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"For folk who are looking for a social experience at the Local Comic Book Store, I can certainly see going for the paper style of comics. I'm much less sanguine about paper comics as an investment (it sounds great until you try to sell something).For myself, I can say that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15418,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-hey-kids-the-last-of-the-comics-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":25140,"position":3},"title":"BT09 – Hey, Kids! The Last of the Comics! (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 6:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Titans #12 (DC) Miller\/Bennett Thor #601 (Marvel) Straczynski\/Djurdjevic Thunderbolts #133 (Marvel) Diggle\/Sepulveda Unknown Soldier #9 (Vertigo) Dysart\/Ponticelli Usagi Yojimbo #121 (Dark Horse) Sakai Wolf-Man #17 (Image) Kirkman\/Howard Wolverine #76 (Marvel) Way\/Liu Wonder Woman #33 (DC) Simone\/Lopresti Wonderful World of Oz #8 of 8 (Marvel) Shanower\/Young X-Factor #46 (Marvel) David\/DeLandro\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"kidscomics","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/kidscomics.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9321,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/29\/bt06_and_so_it.html","url_meta":{"origin":25140,"position":4},"title":"BT06 – And so it begins","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 29-Jul-06 6:52am","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, here I set, well-rested.\u00a0 Kinda.\u00a0 We got out of Doyce's place for the Galactic game a bit late, but that was a bit less distruptive to our sleep patterns...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132649,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/25\/literature-even-comic-books-mean-something-or-else-they-mean-nothing.html","url_meta":{"origin":25140,"position":5},"title":"Literature (even comic books) mean something, or else they mean nothing","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 25-Jan-17 10:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Stan Lee may be a self-aggrandizing huckster who parlayed some great collaborative ideas into a media empire that he took credit for ...... but The Man speak sooth. Folk who want comic books to be simple escapist fare (and God knows I enjoy escapism and comic books) ignore that even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/104fca54-df43-4803-842e-b04259aecc65imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47371,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25140\/revisions\/47371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}